MMI’s two business-to-business (B2B) web sites — www.mmi.grocer.com and www.mmi.hotelsandclubs.com — have racked rack up $1 million in online sales in the space of nine months.

Various different organisations, such as supermarket chain Choithrams and hotels and clubs including the Hyatt Regency, Dubai Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Al Bustan Rotana and Emirates Golf Club, have all reported ‘various’ business advantages by transacting through MMI’s B2B portals.

Kerem Camcigil, general manager of MMI, is understandably pleased with the initial fruits of the company’s Internet strategy. MMI’s strategy has “strengthen our systematic and effective approach to our customers,” said Camcigil.

MMI’s e-commerce work began back in October 2000, when the organisation recognised the Internet as the “most comprehensive avenue for us to interact with our customers as it supports the entire procurement process — evaluating costs, order & entry, fulfilment, tracking and delivery,” said Mark Rogers, manager business communications with MMI.

By shifting more of its business processes to the Web, MMI has managed to minimise the use of paper and eliminated the need for constant sales and service calls. “For our customers, this is translated into speed, efficiency, cost savings and convenience. [It] helps in our drive to become preferred suppliers to all our customers,” commented Rogers.

Peter Scholz, of the Hyatt Regency went on to highlight the cost-effectiveness of the B2B model. “Admittedly, these are small savings, but it translates into significant cost reductions over a period of time.”

Scholz also pointed out research conducted by Boston Consultancy Group, stating that companies that move aggressively into B2B can achieve cost savings of 15% on materials.

Both MMI’s online solutions are hosted on a dedicated server, provided and maintained by Innerhost. The sites both rely on Microsoft’s SQL Server. The web application was designed in conjunction with Gulf Test Factory Services.